Cigarette carton



M. STADNYK CIGARETTE CARTON Jan. 3, 1956 Filed Aug. 29, 1951 INVENTOR.film /4:4 Sup/ww- Unitfid t tes Patefi CIGARETTE CARTON Michael Stadnyk,Webster, N. Y. Application August 29, 1951, Serial No. 244,153 1 Claim.(Cl. 206-44.12)

The present invention relates to boxes or cartons for containingpackages of cigarettes or similar articles.

The conventional cigarette carton is ordinarily made to hold tenpackages of cigarettes comprising two horizontal rows of five packageseach, superimposed on one another. It is formed with a cover that, whenclosed, covers the whole of the top row; and to get at the packages ofcigarettes or to remove a package from the carton the glued flap of thecover must be broken open to permit opening the cover. This is somewhatof a nuisance to the user; and moreover this construction has otherdisadvantages as will appear hereinafter.

At the present time, for instance, several States require application ofa State tax stamp to each package of cigarettes that is to be soldwithin that particular State. With the conventional type of cigarettecarton, the distributor, jobber, or wholesaler, located in such a State,must unseal the glued flap of each carton, cut a side of the cartonloose, affix the tax stamp to each package of cigarettes and then resealthe carton. This entails considerable labor cost. Moreover, the cartonsare subjected to considerable han dling and are often damaged thereby.Furthermore, with the conventional cigarette carton, should a taxinspector desire to inspect the packages of cigarettes, the dealer hasagain to unseal the glued flap of each carton to be inspected and, aftersuch inspection, again reseal the carton flap, thus again subjecting thecartons to considerable handling and possible damage, and, at the sametime, in creasing the labor costs and time lost.

One object of the present invention is to provide a carton for packagesof cigarettes which is so constructed that tax stamps may be affixed tothe packages of cigarettes without the necessity of breaking open andresealing the glued flap of the carton and which is furthermore soconstructed that the stamped packages can readily be inspected withoutrepeatedly breaking open and rescaling the carton.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette carton fromwhich individual packages of cigarettes may be removed Without having tolift up any lid or cover.

A further object of the invention is to provide a carton which issuitable for use as a dispensing box and in which the individualpackages of cigarettes may be so arranged as to be withdrawn therefromone at a time.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved typeof cigarette carton made from a single blank and which may be hung on awall or the like in position for dispensing the individual packages ofcigarettes therefrom.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette cartonso constructed as to effect a material saving in the amount of cardboardrequired to form the same as compared with the amount required to make aconventional cigarette carton, capable of holding the same number ofpackages of cigarettes.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an' improvedcigarette carton which is of simple construction and which may be madeat comparatively low cost.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from thespecification and from the recital of the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette carton made according to oneembodiment of this invention, looking at the carton from the front andone side;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of this carton looking at it from the rearand from the opposite side;

Fig. 3 is a plan view on a somewhat reduced scale showing the blank fromwhich the carton is constructed; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section through the carton on asomewhat enlarged scale.

Referring first to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the cardboard blank fromwhich the carton is to be formed, is folded or scored to provide fourmajor panels 10, 11, 12 and 13, which form respectively the left side,front, right side, and back walls of the carton. The blank is furtherformed with a glue flap 14, adjoining panel 10, and with pairs offolding flaps 15 and 16, 17 and 18, 19 and 20, 21 and 22 at oppositeends, respectively, of the panels iii, 11, 12 and 13, respectively.

The carton illustrated is to contain ten packages of cigarettes. Thepanel 12 has, therefore, ten apertures or windows 25 cut into it. Eachof these windows is so located that when the blank has been folded intocarton shape and the packages of cigarettes have been assembled into thecarton, there is'an apertureor window 25 disposed opposite one end 26 ofeach package of cigarettes 27 in the carton. The carton is folded intothe shape shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. One end is left open, of course,until the packages of cigarettes have been stacked in the carton, one ontop of the other with the packages horizontal as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2and with one end 26 of each package opposite one of the windows 25 inthe panel 12. The apertures 25 are preferably made as small as possiblein order to avoid unduly weakening the carton.

With the construction shown it is easy for a dealer to stamp the end ofeach package, as shown at 28, without requiring the opening andrescaling of the carton. More over, when a tax inspector desires toascertain whether the packages in a particular carton of cigarettes havehad the necessary tax stamps applied thereto, all that is required isfor him to pick up the carton; he can see at a glance whether or not thestamps have been attired. instead of having to unseal the flap and openthe carton, to stamp the individual packages or to inspect them, as isrequired with conventional cartons, and instead of having to resealeach. carton, after stamping or inspecting the individual packages, thecarton of the present invention may be left intact, just as sealed atthe factory, and the packages can be stamped or inspected in a matter ofa second or so. Accordingly, if the customer purchases a carton ofcigarettes rather than a single package he Will receive a sealed cartonexactly as packed at the factory.

The left side panel 10 of the carton is scored or perforated, asindicated at 29, to provide a removable piece 39 a slight amount widerand deeper than the width and depth of a cigarette package. This piece30 is aligned with the lowermost of the apertures 25 in panel 12. Thepiece 30 of cardboard can readily be removed; and the carton can then beused as a dispensing package, the opening provided by removal of thepiece 30 providing a dispensing opening through which the successivelylowermost package 27 of cigarettes in the carton can be pushed out ofthe carton by pushing on the opposite end of the package through thelowermost aperture 25. When one package is removed fromthe carton theother packages fall down, each being successively positioned by gravityto be subsequently dispensed from the carton. The carton may be hung upon a wall by means of a keyhole slot 31 provided in rear panel 13 andinto which may be inserted the head of a thumbtack or suitable hookfastened to the wall. There are, of course, numerous simple andeffective means for accomplishing the above, though only one isillustrated. With the carton of the present invention, then, a singlepackage of cigarettes can readily be removed from the carton, after thepiece 30 has been torn out of the panel 10, without opening the carton.This is a convenience and another feature of the invention.

If desired the front and rear panels 11 and 13 may be notched alongsidepiece 30 so that after the piece 30 is removed the lowermost cigarettepackage can be grasped through these notches so as to permit its removalfrom the carton. Side flaps may be provided on piece 30 by scoring frontand rear panels 11 and 13 simultaneously with the scoring of panel forpiece 30, thereby making it possible to form the notches when piece 30is torn from the carton.

Conventional cigarette cartons are made to contain ten packages ofcigarettes positioned in two superimposed rows and for this purpose thecover and bottom panels of the carton have a length equal toapproximately five times the width of a cigarette package and thesepanels have a width equal to approximately the length of a cigarettepackage. In a carton made according to the present invention, the frontand rear panels 11 and 13 have a length (or height) equal toapproximately ten times the depth of a cigarette package and a widthequal to approximately the length of a cigarette package while the sidepanels 10 and 12 have a length (or height) equal to approximately tentimes the depth of a cigarette package and a width equal toapproximately the width of a cigarette package. By making the carton asin the present invention, a material saving in cardboard is effected. Ithas been calculated that for regular size cigarettes a saving of 7.049square inches of cardboard can be achieved for a ten package carton ofcigarettes as compared with the conventional ten package cigarettecarton. For king size cigarettes, the saving effected with the presentinvention over a conventional carton is 8.27 square inches. Due to thelessening of surface area and to the favorable change in the length andwidth dimensions, it is possible to obtain twenty blanks such as shownin Fig. 3, from the same standard sheet of cardboard which now yieldsonly sixteen conventional blanks. This is a saving in cardboard. Thereshould be further important savings in printing inks, material handlingcosts and shipping costs. This is one of the most important features ofthe invention.

V-fhile in the embodiment disclosed the apertures or windows areprovided in panel 12, it will be understood that they might instead beprovided in front panel 1.1 or rear panel 13, each package of cigarettesthen being stamped on one of its narrow sides. Furthermore, while theinvention has been illustrated as embodied in a carton which has nocover, a carton might also be made according to the invention somewhatlike conventional g the carton and the width and length 4 cartons with acover. In the case of the present invention, however, the cover wouldform the front or rear panel of the carton and have, of course, itsclosing flap along one side and its end flaps at top and bottom. In thiscase, the top and bottom flaps 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 wouldbe eliminated and top and bottom flaps would be formed on the sidepanels. The cigarette packages would be stacked vertically as in theembodiment of the invention illustrated, not placed in two horizontalrows as in conventional cartons.

Furthermore, while the invention has been disclosed in connection with acigarette carton, it will be understood that it may be applied tocartons for containing and dispensing various other articles, such asrazor blade packages, etc.

While the invention has been described, then, in conuection with aparticular embodiment thereof, it will be understood that it is capableof further modification; and this application is intended to cover anyvariations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general,the principles of the invention and including such departures from thepresent disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the artto which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essentialfeatures hereinbefore set forth and as fall within the scope of theinvention or the limits of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

A carton of cigarette packages or like articles, said carton havingfront, rear, and opposite side walls and top and bottom closing flaps,and in which the packages are stacked on top of one another, the heightof said carton being equal to that of the column of packages stacked inof the carton being equal to the width and length of one of saidpackages, said carton having a plurality of elongate, spaced windowapertures in one wall, said window apertures extending each in thedirection of the width of said packages and being equal in number to thenumber of packages containabie in said carton, said window aperturesbeing disposed one above the other in the same order as the packages,and one of said window apertures being opposite each package wherebystamps may be applied to the packages and the packages inspected throughsaid window apertures, and the wall of said carton, which is oppositesaid apertured wall, having a removable piece adjacent its bottom endwhich has an area at least as great as the registering side of thelowermost package in the carton, whereby the successively lowermostpackages may be dispensed through the opening formed by removal of saidpiece.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS406,652 Kinney July 9, 1889 1,862,685 Kennet June 14, 1932 2,129,701Malocsay Sept. 13, 1938 2,385,400 Briggs Sept. 25, 1945

